Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
Seniors and HBCU students are key components in the Sports Journalism Institute’s 33rd class.
Here’s a look at the 16 students - eight men and eight women - in the class of 2025.
The class features 12 seniors and four juniors. Four students are from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. And we welcome first-time schools Rice University, Swarthmore College (PA), North Carolina Central University and Lipscomb University in Nashville.
SJI was founded in 1992 to help prepare women and minorities for summer internships. We welcomed our first class in 1993.
Our 33rd class will convene for a boot camp at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State from June 7-11. Upon their graduation from boot camp, this class will increase our alums to more than 400. More than half of SJI alums have gone on to work professionally in sports media or communications.
SJI will also welcome two new intern hosts this year: Mass Live and The Florida Times-Union.
Seven Gannett newspapers will host interns this year: The Memphis Commercial Appeal, The Tennessean, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, The Oklahoman, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The Providence Journal, and Florida Times-Union.
“It’s amazing that we are welcoming our 33rd class,” SJI co-director Leon H. Carter said. “The SJI faculty and I can’t wait to put the interns to work. They should expect to work hard. Boot camp won’t be easy.”
SJI extends its thanks to our intern hosts for this summer and to the faculty of the Cronkite School, which has hosted our boot camp since 2019. We also thank the NFL Foundation, which returns as a sponsor of our scholarship fund.
We thank those in the television, digital, and print media industries who continue to donate their time and expertise to SJI. We also express our gratitude to long-time SJI instructor David Squires of N.C. A&T State University; Malcolm Moran, director of the Sports Capital Journalism Program at Indiana University-Indianapolis; Michael Wilbon, Stephen A. Smith and Lisa Salters of ESPN, and Tom Rinaldi of FOX.
The Class of 2025
Isabella Almeida
Texas at Austin
Senior
The Oklahoman
Caulin Avery
North Carolina A&T
Senior
Fox Sports
Isaiah Delgado
Central Florida
Senior
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Tarohn Finley
Syracuse
Senior
Detroit News
Niles Garrison
Morehouse
Junior
Florida Times-Union
Ashton Griffith
North Carolina A&T
Senior
Providence Journal
Liana Handler
University of Florida
Junior
Baltimore Banner
Devon Henderson
Arizona State
Senior
Southern California News Group
Allexus Killian
North Carolina Central
Senior
Knoxville News Sentinel
Alaina Morris
Lipscomb
Senior
Tennessean
Kathleen Ortiz
Rice
Junior
Dallas Morning News
Matthew Richards
Loyola
Senior
Houston Chronicle
Sofia Schwarzwalder
University of Washington
Junior
Kansas City Star
Alana Thompson
Loyola
Senior
The Commercial Appeal
Sophia Vessly
Swarthmore College
Senior
Seattle Times
Takashi Williams
Columbia
Senior
MassLive